Writing about Arsenal post-season is really tough for the first few weeks. It’s like finishing a boxing match (I’ve never fought a boxing match). You’ve prepped, fought all the rounds, now it’s over (I probably got knocked out) and you have to work out what’s next.
Thankfully, this writer numbness is being perked up by some good news coming out the club.
Before we get to that, let’s talk about some weird news, Wolves are apparently planning legal action against Sau Paulo over the transfer of Marquinhos to Arsenal. Brazilian contracts and legal sounds like a minefield, I have no idea about the veracity of the rumour, but I do feel good that Wolves were looking at the player because that means there’s a good chance the player is talented.
The BIG news is that Eddie has signed a deal. Am I taking this news as a BIG W for the Le Grove platform? You’re damn right I am. This is a great bit of progress for many reasons. There are always a bunch of whingers that complain about strategic moves like this, but you have to be pragmatic about these things, and, as always, have a bit of vision.
Eddie is 22 years old, there are almost no strikers of that age in the Premier League. The one that was hot on the lips of everyone in January was Armando Broja of Chelsea. His record? 2300 minutes, 11 goals. Eddie played half the minutes and delivered 10 goals for the season. If his name was Ediano Nkeitiovic and he was playing in the Bosnian First Division and we’d just pinched him from Salzburg, fans would be running around losing their minds with excitement. Everyone is a Football Manager merchant these days, they prefer the unknown, and they miss absolute obvious talents that we have at the club.
Look at those percentiles. They are outrageous. These numbers were racked up after he’d been cast aside by Arteta all season. He could have dropped his level, he could have sulked like Nico, he could have taken a move to Germany or another Premier League club. But he didn’t, he took his chance, played really well, and proved the doubters wrong.
There’s some angst over the money, but that’s the cost of botching contracts. Here’s the thing, Eddie just wants to play, if he doesn’t get minutes, he’ll go somewhere else. £100k a week isn’t going to frighten anyone off. What I am interested to know is what the penny pinchers think is a fairer deal? £85k? £75k? Where are we going with a satisfactory number here?
The bigger picture for me is: where are else are we getting a striker of his caliber? At what expense?
Tammy Abraham, a striker we all mostly love, played 400 more minutes for Chelsea last season and managed 1 more Premier League goal than him and 1 more total over the season. He moved to Roma for £40m. There are two lessons here, firstly, get some perspective on what young strikers are capable of, secondly, the cost of finding a suitable replacement would be expensive, likely foreign, and likely come with a lot of risk. Remember, the mighty Patson Daka cost £23m and he delivered a massive 11 goals this season off double the minutes of Eddie. How many were begging to sign him last summer?
Finally, my last point, Gabriel Jesus is being heavily linked to us, he has scored 8 Premier League goals this season in 28 appearances, 4 of which came in one game… and the fans criticising the Eddie signing are cool with us dropping £55m on him? A striker that couldn’t break 10 Premier League goals in the most prolific chance creation machine in history seems like a red flag to me, but we’ll see. Eddie scored his Premier League goals off less xG, a much better goal per minutes ratio, in a depleted team, with an overall chance conversion rate 5% better. Our newly signed striker has also scored his 11 goals in second-string teams or first teams that have been heavily depleted. Jesus has 13 goals off more than double the minutes.
The message I’ve heard since last year about Eddie is he’s a top talent and if he were to leave us, we would regret it, because he will be 20 goal a season striker somewhere in the Premier League. Part of his draw in training is that he nearly always hits the target, a gift in a side that doesn’t do that enough in the league. Let’s see how that info pans out, regardless, I am very happy that we have secured his future, the kid deserves his deal.
OK, before we go, The Arsenal Opinion Podcast is going full-on business mode.
We’re going to be doing special content pieces throughout the summer, then next season, Patreon Members will get midweek previews.
There will also be special editorials from Johnny and Man Like Matt Kandela.
The reasons for going this direction is a fewfold. It’s expensive to run a podcast and it also takes a lot of time to make the work happen. I can’t keep asking people to do this Pro Bono, so any contribution you can make would be a contribution to the creator community. A lot of you asked me to do it, which is very kind of you.
If you can’t, do NOT worry, On The Whistle will be free all next season.
If you can, thank you kindly, it means a lot.
Below is the link to sign up to the Patreon. Then below that is our first summer podcast. We’ll get more refined with the summer work, it’s a bit weird podcasting without the adrenaline of a just-watched game. Enjoy!
Bankz is here for the tr4phy again.
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Top 10
“….but I do feel good that Wolves were looking at the player because that means there’s a good chance the player is talented.”.
Yes. We need to stop pretending we can steal the players from Top4 teams. It’s Wolves, West ham, Leicester and Newcastle that are our real competition when it comes to attracting players. Most importantly, majority of the fans are happy with the direction the club is taking, so everything is hunky dory. In your face, Wolves.
Honestly I don’t think any serious club should be jubilating about signing Eddie(a player most people agreed wasn’t at the standard we need a few months ago) and Jesus. How do you explain the sharp drop from pursuing a striker like Vlahovic all summer and winter long then settle for a completely different type of striker like Eddie and Jesus? We had a world class striker but somehow couldn’t manage him or set up the team properly to create chances for him but somehow these two lightweight centre forwards are the solution next season? Nothing indicates we’d be better off… Read more »
Pedro I do admire your going to any length to bat for Arteta, you would do very well in Politics. Like I said in the last post, the refusal of Arteta to play Eddie for most of the season means its either Eddie isn’t good enough or Arteta can’t spot talented players. You can also say the same for Mo and Lokonga. Why play Lokonga when Mo would have been a better choice? Why persist with Lacazette even when he wasn’t scoring? If keeping Eddie was the goal, shouldn’t we have given him more time so he would be prepared… Read more »
Everyone is a Football Manager merchant these days, they prefer the unknown, and they miss absolute obvious talents that we have at the club. Pedro Real fucking talk This is what wenger was being criticized for years ago but it was always the right strategy for this club, unless our stadium truly did put us smog the elite. It never did, sadly, so here we are. Back at square 1 minus the legendary, prestigious manager and sexy football Arteta has done an ok job. We’ve improved 8 points. Hats ok considering we did £150m and have the best young coach… Read more »
Also. Johnny C
You are the man
Wasn’t sure at first but I just can’t disagree wit anything you say anymore
”If his name was Ediano Nkeitiovic and he was playing in the Bosnian First Division and we’d just pinched him from Salzburg, fans would be running around losing their minds with excitement.”
I do love a good football Cliche! Straight from the Lineker MOTD playbook.
Weagle
You’re usually pretty on the mark
You don’t think Eddie did his birthday? You don’t think if he plays 5 more games we get over the line? His goals put us back in the mixer.
To be honest I’m ok with Eddie signing, after all where was harry kane at 22 years old? Not att Ediie’s current level for sure, and in every under 21 or youth level. Eddie’s record is better, so who says he’s not going to surpass him.
You got to wonder how wide men like overmars, Freddie and Bobby would do in a modern 433
They were highly productive wide men in a 442 with more defensive duties
Could you imagine them being given the sort of freedom that salah and mane get while their game is propped up by a central target man? I think they’d surpass salha. I really do.
Bobby likely comes inside and plays more centrally in modern football
WE, you gotta admit it, you are part of the scouting network on here that loves an exotic name.
Un I think Eddie has proven that he is a decent ST but he you don’t or at least shouldn’t pay good players £100k a week. Because then what will your Saka’s and ESR’s of this world want when renegotiating their deals? Or a 1st choice ST if we opt to bring one in this summer. It’s homegrown feelings getting in the way of logic re the level of these lads. A lot on here were massive Willock fans and did not want to see him sold. We ended up getting a very good price of £25m, our one good… Read more »
Pedro
Haha there’s some truth in that sure but to be honest I tend to look more at names on the continent precisely because of how much you have to overpay to sign English talent between wages or transfer fees.
£100K a week is massive money for a back-up ST. If he is indeed going to be our starting ST then I cannot see how you are optimistic for much improvement.
Majestic, I think Gareth Bale was being trialed as a full back at that age.
Eagle
Maybe Arteta has big plans for Eddie. Maybe he’s rated as highly as those guys at the club?
WE, it’s kind of in line with what we’re paying the kids in this team. It’s also £80k a week less than we were paying Lacazette and £250k short of Auba.
It’ll look a better deal by the end of next season.
”To be honest I’m ok with Eddie signing, after all where was harry kane at 22 years old?”
Harry Kane’s numbers at Eddie’s age (Eddie turns 23 on Monday):
14/15: 31 goals in 51 apps.
15/16: 28 goals in 50 apps.
45 PL goals in 72 apps across those two seasons.
Robert Pires, ‘everyone would be more excited about a Bosnian player’ is not mocking Bosnia.
Un
Check out this post by Azed above, spot on:
”Like I said in the last post, the refusal of Arteta to play Eddie for most of the season means its either Eddie isn’t good enough or Arteta can’t spot talented players.”
If Arteta rated him as highly as you say then why let him ride the bench all season when we cannot buy goals? It screams of reactive management and coming by way of circumstance rather than actual planning. ESR’s introduction to the team was the same.
Weagle Both willock and Eddie are niche/specialist players for sure and both wouldn’t do well in a set up that didn’t play t their strengths. But for me Eddie has produced what strikers need to produced He’s won games wit goals from nothing, simply by being on his toes. He must be a fucker to play against. If he ca add presence and hold up to his game he’d be a real force. I was one of his doubters But he’s shoved my words down my throat and I’m happy to admit it I’m glad he’s got a new contract… Read more »
If Eddie has signed, then what does that say about the pattern of our summer recruitment? Surely, it means a maximum of signing only one more striker. Eddie wouldn’t have signed if there is going to be two. Let’s hope he is a physical monster because Eddie (for all this late season success) isn’t the player who will regularly win aerial battles. My worry is that we go with him and Jesus. Even Pep ultimately realized he needed a big forward (Haaland). If it is only one more striker signing, then does that mean we are focusing on midfield? I… Read more »
Eddie has a knack for scoring goals – the most valued asset in a player. Add in that he is non-stop, from side to side, a constant threat throughout to defenders and GKs. Never doubted Arteta would keep him.
Gabriel Jesus is a fine player, but we can do better, we need a regular goal-scorer not an occasional one. Maybe our Man City target is Raheem Sterling, IMO he fits the bill far better – still the best English front man.
And he turns 23 this weekend for all the ‘he’s only 22’ noise Pedro is making.
Eagle
For context, becks and scholes weren’t proper first team players until they turned 23
Both generational, literally.
”Vast majority of top strikers in the EPL have been foreign players who have come from another league, but suddenly we should forget that and it’s a huge risk?”
Another spot on post. Very odd attitude from some of our fanbase and snobbery towards signing foreign talent when most of the best players in the league are foreign.
Eagle
Yeah
For me that’s in Arteta. Not Eddie. Countless example on Arteta cutting his nose off
WE, tought to say Arteta can’t spot talented players considering where the youngest team in the league ended up points wise.
What it could be is a mistake, which all managers make, just look at what Thomas Tuchel did this season with certain players.
25m over 5 years which sounds about what fee alone would be for a similar player. Efficient use of their available funds in my opinion.
Un
That isn’t true? Beckham broke into the Utd XI when he was 20. Not sure about Scholes, I am sure there was a pretty good reason Fergie didn’t have him as a starter until that age so. Were they not winning the PL title every season anyway? Apples to oranges comparison.
I’m not sure anyone is saying foreign players are an issue, the take is:
They are expensive
If you are playing in cheaper section, they have more risk
Man, people go out of their way to be offended over a very basic point.
The snobbery is from people that hawk new, like Housem Auoar over Odegaard, when there is something extremely viable in front of them.
Pedro
You keep mentioning the youngest team in the league as if it is a trophy or something prestigious? We are 2 odd years below league average, it’s not exactly a team of teenagers we are playing with.
Arteta has shown numerous times he does not have a great eye for talent. Need I even mention Saliba or Mavropanos?
Tuchel gets more leverage because he won the CL last year. He’ll be out on his arse if the Chavs are not gunning for the title next season, you can bet that.
Pedro, Point well taken. I’m agnostic at this point about whether a player is domestic or foreign. But I have repeatedly read you discussing paying an English premium. Yes, I am please that he signed. But we have paid a premium on Eddie’s salary for the next five years given his relative accomplishments. Sure, we can sell him if it doesn’t work out. But we can all agree that his big salary will make that harder to do. And, as I said before, I don’t know what it says about the structure of our recruitment for the summer. As MA… Read more »
WE, I keep mentioning it because it is important when contextualising where we’re at. We’re 3 years short of City’s squad. Liverpool’s average age of their starting 11 is 29. If you truly believe age isn’t a factor, go and have a chat with literally anyone that works in sport to clarify what Pedro on Le Grove is saying and they will say ‘yes, age is a factor’ I’m not sure talent ID is an issue. Mavrapanos is where he is because he gets injured all the time. Saliba got 4500 minutes and he’ll come back fully baked… kind of… Read more »
NJ, if he scores 15 goals next season, will anyone talk about £100k a week. Football contracts are a gamble and they are rarely based on where you are now when you are working with high potential 22 year olds.
Pedro We spent £50m on Ben White, a supposed David Luiz replacement. We also let Mavropanos go for potentially peanuts and were extremely lucky that Stuttgart were not relegated. Then we allowed Saliba out on loan again when he was clearly ready to make an impact. Won YPOTY in France to prove that fact. Fail to bring in a single offensive difference maker. Rebuffed a £20m offer for AMN, elected to then bench him and treat him like a Leper. Loan him out and eventually usher him out the back door to Roma now where his value has tanked to… Read more »
Eddie’s renewal from a numbers perspective it makes sense, for EL in the early stages, yes but for the EPL to challenge top 4 not really. He lacked precision in front of goal and does not have the physicality for hold up play. No other club would have spent 100k on Eddie. With decisions like this I will not be surprised if in the upcoming season there again will be no St. Totteringham’s day. Pondering regarding players who are in the main headlines of the TW. 1. RM are prepared to pay around €80m to land Tchouameni, who joined Monaco… Read more »
there’s nothing this organization and it’s most ardent Apologists enjoy more than having a built-in excuse, whether it’s covid, the refs, having the “youngest” squad, not good enough players out there, oil money, manager in training, etc, etc, etc…need I say more
WE, I know you live in a world where mistakes don’t happen, but that’s the game my friend.
Ben White and Gabriel were better equipped to start the season with Arsenal. That might not be the case next season because Saliba has loads of minutes for a top club. I’m not sure many top managers in the Premier League would have risked their career on Saliba over Ben White. You certainly wouldn’t have forgiven him if it’d gone wrong.
”We’re 3 years short of City’s squad. ”
Pedro were you not knocking around for Project Yute in Wenger’s day from 2007-2011? How did that pan out in the end?
Project Youth failed in the end because we didn’t take the final step and the kids left.
Doesn’t look like that’ll be the case this time around.
We were never going to sign two strikers to replace Auba and Laca. So, we were left with no option but to renew Eddie’s contract.
We can argue over his wages but for me Eddie offers more than what Laca offered last season and for me that’s what matters. Eddie has age on his side so one can hope he will improve his game further.
Pedro
No club is perfect but we sure do make a lot more fuck-ups than our counterparts.
Liverpool was supposed to be the realistic model to follow. Well it took them and Klopp Less than 3 years to be on par with City and have a CL Final in the bag.
You’re now talking about 3 more years so that will have been 5.5 years.
Amen to that TR7… keep the powder dry for the main show and other more important positions that need addressing.
Last season we wasted £120M, got to use our funds far more judiciously this time around.
With Eddie signing and Balagoun back. We need one striker and add to the midfield. Aouar is available and a tough tackling defensive midfielder that quickly transitions play would be great.
WE, next season they want top 4, the season after they think they can compete for the league.
That’ll be 5 years.
“I’m not sure many top managers in the Premier League would have risked their career on Saliba over Ben White.”
a £50 million mistake because he is too arrogant to consider another player that wasn’t signed by him
£50 million that ought to have been spent on strengthening the midfield
Pedro does love to gloss over Arteta’s erroneous choices.
Ben White is no error. It’s not having an eye to see what was so bloody obvious about Salba and neglecting the midfield as a result of that error.
Why wasn’t Wenger accorded that “mistakes happen” line of defence
Does anybody seriously believe that keeping Eddie was a last-minute decision based on him scoring a few goals? How odd if someone does because Arteta was saying all along that he wanted to keep him.
The off-the-cuff risky buys of Arsene are well and truly over. Okay, in the early days they sometimes paid off but later in more sophisticated times, most often they didn’t. If we learned anything from last summer’s transfers, it is that the targets are long identified, the options well-known.
Eagle
Becks and scholes were not proper first team starters until 96/97
They got games
But they weren’t first choice
Scholes only got in properly after Haaland done Keaney’s knee
Then when Keane came back it was Nicky Butt who got dropped
Scholes was 23
Becks was 21 when he scored that goal at selhurst from the half way line but he wasn’t automatically first choice
They just signs jordi cryuff and Karel poborsky who who was quality
Also can Arteta pick up the phone and have a few quite words with Saliba
Calling him “William Saliba” on his press conferences suggest that there’s zero relationship. Arteta wouldn’t refer to Folarin Balogun or Riss Nelson by their full names because he knows them well enough to use a first name or nickname.
For Saliba, it’s like he’s dealing with a stranger three years after he was signed [2.5 seasons under Arteta’s managerial era]
Pedro
The average age of our squad is 24.4. When Leicester won the league, the average age of Spurs was 24.5.
Since then, that squad has gone on to achieve nothing.
Saying we area young team means nothing.
Wenger eagle
I take it that your grouse with the Eddie contract is just the wages?
Do think he’s good enough to be back-up to an elite striker?
Eddie
10 goals in 12 starts
You can’t argue with that
He needed a run
But then so did Pepe and he got fucked
Same as holding. Give that man a run of games and I’d argue he and big Billy should be our first pairing
I couldn’t give a toss if he’s not Franco Baresi on the ball
Do think he’s good enough to be back-up to an elite striker?
Diss
Undoubtedly
“Becks was 21 when he scored that goal at selhurst from the half way line but he wasn’t automatically first choice”
Not sure this is right. 33 starts in the Premier League in 1995/96 suggests Beckham was a first choice, only rested for four games on the bench.
How I recalled it was Beckham was well on his way to becoming an icon by the summer of 1996.
Odegaard stole ESR’s position. For all the “Arteta wants us to be like Man City and Pool changing the back 4 and front 3 all the time” once Odegaard was used in AM, he started every single game for a total of 26 EPL games in a row, including games where he was a bystander – in the away games vs Palace (worst player on the pitch), Spuds and Brighton, both games vs City and vs Pool. 7 goals and 4 assists in 32 starts, what a player. Arteta didn’t rotate Laca and Nketiah – Laca was the starter CF… Read more »
Diss, Ben White got an England call-up and has pushed Eric Dier out of the squad. He was also a mainstay in an Arsenal side that finished with 69 points. I don’t think anyone at Arsenal is worried he’s been an erroneous signing.
Summer of spin continues. Eddie on 100k a week after a handful of goals at the end of another failed season is not good business. It’s almost like we’ve been through this before with Bendtner, Chamakh etc etc who we’ve struggled to get rid of due to their massive wages. It’s genius really
Chris
But he wasn’t an automatic first team starter
Sharpey and kanchelslis got big game time for untied
So did Nicky butt
Becks got game time but he wasn’t first choice
If he was would never have brought in jordi and poborsky
Next season though he was first name in the team sheet
Point I’m making is that they were about Nketiah’ sage when they made their mark
Well, we could have done with Bosnian striker in 2011. I remember that one Edin Dzeko was heavilly linked with the club. Price tag was £17m. Arsene Wenger opted for Bendtner, because he was cheaper option at £15m. We all know how careers of those two players panned out.
But we do need to sign Edin Dzeko type of striker this Summer. We cannot rely on 5″11 strikers only.
Diss
Gabriel has been the worst of the pair
Let’s be real here
Don’t know why the guy is getting a free ride
Azed, average age of players that played over 1000 minutes that season was 26.84. Average age of the entire squad that season was 26.66.
Average age of Arsenal is 24
I don’t know why people are having knives out for Gabriel?
Isn’t whole this Project about group of young players maturing together? So why not give time to Gabriel? He’s certainly showed enough promise last season. He’s also a leadership material.
Holding’s immaturity cost us at WHL. And even though I like Holding (because I see a bit of TA6 in there), Gabriel should always start ahead of him.
Marko, your summer of spin last year was Arsenal had the worst manager in the league and Patson Daka was a god.
Sit this summer out.
Marko, your summer of spin last year was Arsenal had the worst manager in the league and Patson Daka was a god.Sit this summer out.
😂 👏
Pedro “Diss, Ben White got an England call-up and has pushed Eric Dier out of the squad. He was also a mainstay in an Arsenal side that finished with 69 points. I don’t think anyone at Arsenal is worried he’s been an erroneous signing.” You mean an Arsenal defence that conceded 9 more goals that the season before we splurged £50 [plus 5] million on a “Rolls Royce” CB. How much did he help our attack, by the way. Arteta made a major strategic blunder last season because of either his pettiness in not considering players that weren’t signed by… Read more »
What’s with all the doom and gloom like we are dying as a club lol
Un I’m really not being pedantic but is this the same Kanchelskis that departed for Everton in the summer of 1995, and the same Lee Sharpe that couldn’t dislodge Beckham from the right wing for the 95/96 season? I repeat, Beckham started 33 league games in 95/96. That strongly suggests he was first choice. I recall him starting FA Cup semi and final. That’s from looking it up but as an 11 year old football nut I would record on VHS and watch every single episode of Match of the Day. So it is fair to say Beckham was an… Read more »
Raptora “Odegaard stole ESR’s position. For all the “Arteta wants us to be like Man City and Pool changing the back 4 and front 3 all the time” once Odegaard was used in AM, he started every single game for a total of 26 EPL games in a row, including games where he was a bystander – in the away games vs Palace (worst player on the pitch), Spuds and Brighton, both games vs City and vs Pool. 7 goals and 4 assists in 32 starts, what a player.Arteta didn’t rotate Laca and Nketiah – Laca was the starter CF… Read more »
Ben White hasn’t shown enough to prove he’s worth 50 million.
Diss, I know you are desperate to have a W this season, but Ben White is a top player and the Saliba loan has been a raging success.
Hard to be angry that now we have a talent loaded group of centrebacks
your summer of spin last year was Arsenal had the worst manager in the league and Patson Daka was a god.
I think you’re confusing me with someone else. He is a shit manager and Daka’s decent. I’m not sure I talked him up that much. But hey only time will tell if yet again we’re pissing money up the wall on a player you were okay with Arteta binning just a couple of months ago but Mikel can’t do no wrong around here
Banks, Whilst Eddie and Jesus feel a little underwhelming, is that because they lack quality, or because they feel like more known quantities than the excitement of a more mysterious striker? Saying that we are consigning ourselves to mediocrity when we are taking a striker from the perennial league champions (and top 3 clubs in the world) feels a little bit odd. If he’s so bang average, how comes he has been an important cog in such a successful footballing machine? And if we are comparing ourselves with them, my feeling is that Saka will soon be better than Mahrez,… Read more »
I don’t like being married to opinions. Eddie has proved me wrong this season. What we fucked up his not giving him enough minutes when Lacazette was clearly struggling despite the assists. The eye opener for me was Westham away. He terrorized them like I have never seen before with him. He didn’t score but he was dribbling and driving forward and taking shots. If you actually look at the numbers then his passing stats, dribbling stats tell a story. He isn’t just a poacher anymore. His hold up play and his overall game has improved. The wage packet is… Read more »
Marko, I’m not confusing you with someone else. I know it’s hard for you to keep up with your litany of shit opinions like Patson Daka chatter… but good to see you are still doubling down on Arteta being worse than Sean Dyche.
Pedro, I am not pro nor con Eddie. I’ll be delighted if he scores 15 goals next season (I assume you mean in the EPL because I don’t care how many he scores away at Dundalk in the Europa League). But if he doesn’t score that many, will you throw up your hands and say that 100k a week was badly spent? My concern was not that we signed him. My concern was that it was for so much and for so long. Three with an option would have seemed good business to me, even at a 100k a week.… Read more »
As we enter the silly season, here are a couple of rumours I found on the internet:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/serge-gnabry-future-realmadrid-arsenal-27076644
https://metro.co.uk/2022/05/25/arsenals-19m-target-adam-hlozek-has-already-been-approved-by-tomas-rosicky-16706070/
..and
https://talksport.com/football/1118179/sport-owners-rich-list-man-city-arsenal-newcastle-chelsea-takeover-todd-boehly/
I mean he is still shit we’re seemingly not arguing about that just how shit he is. Again I’m not sure I said he was the worst but I was pretty confident that he’d end up a bad appointment. Also let’s not bring up shit opinions yours on Arteta reads like fan fiction sometimes.
Sorry “most at his *age do not pan out”
NJ, the worst possible outcome under any circumstance was letting Eddie go on a free transfer.
He’s a top player, we won’t be throwing our hands up
Good signing, that should be the end of Jesus pursuit because they play the same style and almost of the same height. We need another type of striker they is efficient in nodding, good technique and strong, who can deliver 20 goals. We just need one of such. If we had use nketiah all along instead of wasting time on Auba and Laca, he would have up 15 goals in the league. Interestingly, he might be playing to secure a payday like auba did and then became useless. The task before Arteta now should be how he gets his own… Read more »
Marko, he took the youngest team in the league to 5th, tough to deliver that if you are the worst manager, it’s a really childish opinion that has zero merit.
WengerEagle May 26, 2022 16:21:39 ”Arteta values goalscorers. ”Love you Habesha but is this a joke? Arteta values goalscorers? Is that based on his love and trust of 4 goals in 30 PL apps Lacazette leading the line all season?And failing to bring in a single goalscorer in his dozen plus signings so far exceeding £200m. From the previous post I think he does love goalscorers even if they suck at the over all game. He used Lacazette because he thought Eddie couldn’t do the job. Now he is giving Eddie a massive deal. And he is letting Lacazette go.… Read more »
Naija, I think that Bentancur managed the same amount of big chances created (6), one less assist (3 vs 4) in half the minutes Odegaard got (1365 mins vs 2793 mins). That’s from a central midfielder position that does much more work defensively. And he was £10m cheaper. Eriksen managed one less big chances created (5 vs 6), same amount of assists (4) and in 1/3 of Odegaard’s minutes (938 mins vs 2793 mins). Maddison ofc, made almost 2x big chances created (11 vs 6), 2x more assists (8 vs 4) in less minutes (2466 vs 2793) Not even counting… Read more »
Fucking hell.
it’s game over on the comments threads. Will tune back in next season.
The guilty parties have allowed their anti Arteta agenda to twist their freaking minds and poison this blog.
It’s just so fucking tiresome. You’ll turn even the best news into a steaming dog turd.
Dunno how Pedro remains committed in the face of the super misery know it all bullshit merchants that pull apart every post.
Good for you Pedro…keep it up dude.
Also, props to decent posters on here…there are many. But currently the scrolling that’s required to search you out is too tough…good luck guys.
Average age of the squad is 24 and he finished 5th and he’s doing a good job and deserves more time. Emery finished 5th with an average age of 26 and was ridiculed and deserved to be sacked. See the difference. Huge really. Also he failed miserably at finishing top 4 from a very winnable position so you know he’s shit
Eddie was a no brainier signing, integrated with the team and tactics, scores goals is a hale ender, scored against Chelsea Man U etc
Eddie will do just fine, I don’t really believe in him though but he has a knack for goals, he smells them. Spectacular?- No.
I don’t understand why everybody wants a target man. Aguero,Kane,Jota aren’t target men but they do/did get the job done.So will Jesus
Our obsession with a target man is ridiculous, we don’t need to follow the crowd
Alvaro Morata has to be the most fortunate striker that ever lived. Guys like Crespo, Wiltord, must be looking at this era and wondering why God made them a decade too early
Eddie is perfectly fine as a backup to a top striker. The run of games he got and the goals he scored prove that he can be a good enough rotation player. I think the signing on fee should have been higher with a lower wage packet though. Him staying has a different outcome for me too. The papers have been saying that we are looking for 2 forwards. So now that Eddie has signed the other will be a winger. ST- Jesus (New ST), Eddie, Martinelli LW Martinelli/ESR/New winger CAM Odegaard/ESR RW Saka/ New Winger That is 7 players… Read more »
Marko Emery was shocking for us such a bad fit the fact you are still bringing him up is just damn strange,
HG
“The eye opener for me was Westham away. He terrorized them like I have never seen before”
cherry-picking at it’s finest…a club without it’s best CB suspended and a makeshift d-line to boot, who were likewise battling on multiple fronts…I wouldn’t doubt it in the least if takes like that were bandied about when our team of novices paid over the number for Eddie…it’s akin to someone using our WestBrom Father/Son Carabao Cup affair as the jumping off point for evaluating our season as a whole…shake your head
The way Villa move in the transfer market has been impressive since they have come back up.
Diego Carlos, Coutinho on a permanent, Kamara all done. And they are interested in Bissouma from the rumors. The move early and quietly. I hope Arsenal are trying to move now. Early deals for your targets is ideal because preseason will be good for signings.
TRVL are you ever going to say something positive you must be a right joy down the pub on match day
The real Viera He bullied Zouma FFS. And he did the same too the likes of Thiago Silva. He also troubled Varane. The kid has something about him. Go and check his stats for the season. And you will find out he matches well to Europe’s strikers. I too didn’t think he was good enough before. But I have seen something now. And you can’t spend money on backups when a player from your academy is doing well. 5 in 7 at the end of the season. We won against leeds and Chelsea because of him. Give him service and… Read more »